Musician creates a world with song
Drew Turner performs on stage. Photos submitted
By Tom Victoria
Drew Turner exudes energy when he’s on stage. The stunning musician was born to be a performer.
The California singer explained why he directs his creativity through song.
“Music is my passion because it's an escape,” he said. “It's healing. It's something from a young age that helped me overcome things that were going on around me I couldn't control, but I could put my headphones on. I could create my own realm.”
Drew, 25, of Hollywood said music was pivotal in his formative years.
“When I was 9 years old, I was homeschooled, oldest of five kids,” he said. “They would always be downstairs with my mom. I'd be upstairs dealing with my own mental things like growing up gay or feeling misunderstood because I grew up in a really religious environment, too. I literally just shut myself in and music would heal me. It was a teacher and it saved me. That's why it's my passion.”
For Drew, music is a way to express himself like no other.
“There's so many things that I'm scared of expressing that music is almost a scapegoat,” he said. “You can be like, yeah, no, I'm just playing a character. Maybe there's elements of truth and elements of irony. I have a song called Sad Bitch. Not a lot of people will admit that they're sad. And that's something we as humans need. We need to be honest with ourselves in order to heal and get better.”
Drew explained how that tune, which was released March 4, helps with those emotions.
“So a song like Sad Bitch, not only am I doing it for myself to be, hey, I'm sad, but I still want to have a good time,” he said. “I still want to feel better. It's allowing other people to be able to say I'm sad as well. It's such a unique tool, and artists create a way for people to accept themselves by admitting something true to us as the artists.”
Drew will be releasing new music for the remainder of the year.
“Each month, I'll be dropping a new song,” he said. “I wrote almost two albums at the same time, different ideas. One's very dream pop, futuristic, tells a story. People are going to be able to listen through the whole thing and really just build a world in their mind. The other is ironic pop in the vein of Sad Bitch. Almost like a Y2K 2010 club sound. My plan is to release those as a stream of consciousness throughout the rest of the year and then be released as a whole EP.”
Drew explained that 2010 sound.
“It’s that chaotic but danceable glitterbomb sound from the late 2000s to early 2010s,” he said. “Think Kesha, Britney Spears, early Lady Gaga. That era really shaped my love for music, and it’s something I’ve incorporated into Drew Turner’s sonic world. Whenever I tap into that sound, I always try to add an unexpected twist. With Sad Bitch, it’s about depression, but it still hits as an uplifting club anthem. Or Iced Coffee, which is layered with symbolism and coded phrases that reveal the song is deeper than it first appears.”
Drew said his music needs to have a deeper meaning.
“My goal is always to sneak in a subversive message, especially for an audience that’s often underestimated as just the general public,” he said. “Pop listeners want meaning, not AI slop spoon-fed with a perfect TikTok hook. They deserve better and I like to think my music gives them that.”
Drew’s released 125 in June.
“It’s a track that really taps into my lover boy side and captures the feeling of risking it all for something real,” he said. “It’s part of what I call the dream pop trifecta: The One, 125, and Backseat (Of Ur Car), a full course meal for the romantics. The clubbier tracks definitely bring a different energy, but I think it’s important not to box yourself in. I like experimenting, seeing what I love and seeing what connects most with people.”
Drew is fully utilizing social media to promote his music, including 125.
“I'm promoting on Tik Tok, saying crazy things on Tik Tok to get views and just keep on going,” he said. “I’m still learning how to navigate TikTok myself, but I’m starting to find my niche by commenting on current events in a more symbolic, layered way. I guess by crazy, I mean playing with language, saying things that might not make immediate sense, but tap into the weird, coded way people communicate now, especially with all the platform censorship. These days, it feels like you have to say something unexpected just to be seen, so I’m experimenting with that while still keeping it authentic to me.”
Although Drew has a background performing on stage since he was a youth, he’s much more confident now.
“I did go to a lot of church theater things,” he said. “I did maybe nine different plays, was the main actor in some of them. It came naturally for sure, but definitely not totally comfortable on stage, kind of self-conscious. These last couple years, releasing music and performing at places like The Viper Room and Club 340 in Pomona. Each show, I'm seeing myself more and more, what I need to do and what I need to improve on. And especially with this last show — Beyonce has this interview where she's like, I felt something come into me — I felt like a different person at Club 340. I didn't always feel comfortable, but I'm feeling more and more comfortable each time.”
Drew’s music is inspired by both events that happen in his life and otherwise.
“It's definitely both,” he said. “A lot of the times, I'll take things like relationships I've had and exaggerate it. One time, me and my friend were listening to my music, and they're like, you have nothing really sad, heart-wrenching. And they're like, just write a song called Wounded or something. I've never really had a huge breakup, and I don't ever want that. I had to put myself into that moment and pretend that it was a breakup and create a character to make a story where people could connect to.”
Drew’s newest release provided another type of expression.
“I could understand emotions I've never felt other times, things that have inspired me,” he said. “I have a song called Iced Coffee, and it's definitely in the Sad Bitch fame. Very Y2K 2010's pop. I'm playing a character again, but it's a social commentary on politics. It's pushing the boundaries in what you can say about the government. In that sense, I'm pushing myself to be someone that I want to be because I want to speak out. I want to use my voice for good. It's definitely both inspiration and also creating something out of nothing.”
Drew selected that drink for a reason.
“Iced Coffee is my tell-all letter to capitalism’s favorite delusion: acting rich,” he said. “In a world where collapse is trending, the performance of luxury still holds more weight than honesty. It’s satire, but it’s also dead serious. We’re out here sipping $9 iced coffees while families are torn apart and our economic future dissolves behind us. The song plays with the absurd theater of consumer culture: how we’re wired to crave products that brand our identity, all while surviving on credit and charisma. It’s giving sugar baby dystopia, funded by moral compromise and soft-launched in a Cybertruck. At its core, it’s about how capitalism has reprogrammed us to chase the image of wealth instead of real freedom. Yeah, it’s been said before but I wanted to scream it in neon, dipped in sarcasm, echoing through a club.”
Anyone dating Drew may end up in a song, but he won’t name names like Taylor Swift does.
“I'm definitely will take experiences from relationships and put them into songs,” he said. “I'll never explicitly name that person like Taylor.”
Drew often comes up with a song’s lyrics first.
“Lyrics will inspire the production and the sound of a song,” he said. “A lot of the times, like with Sad, I was like, this is how the best songs come up. I swear, it's randomly I'll be like, it would be so funny if we had a song called Saddest Bitch in the Club. No one's done that yet. And why not? And so from that we're like, okay, that's chaotic. Let's do something crazy. Other times, my producer will come with a project and I'll be like, damn, this makes me feel like I'm distressed. It makes you feel something and that inspires the lyrics.”
Drew spreads out his live shows to ensure variety for his audience.
“I try to perform live at least every three months,” he said. “Honestly, not a lot. I want to perform more and it's mainly just finding the right time to do it. I've noticed as I'm growing my fan base, I have some of the same people and they don't want to come to a show that's like I just went to two months ago. So it's mainly finding the right time to do it, but I want to perform more.”
Drew performs in striking outfits such as the white leather ensemble he’s wearing in recent social media posts.
“It sets the tone for the whole performance,” he said. “That first few seconds you go onto stage, people are gonna judge you, and that's the truth. So you gotta be mindful of that. What do you want to convey to the audience? Do you want to tell a story? Are you trying to be hot? Are you gothic? Are you dark? What are you showing? How are you showing your soul through your clothes? Imagery is such an important part of music because it will bring you into that world.”
Drew explained the imagery on the white outfit’s jacket.
“There's a snake and hearts and flames on the actual jacket,” he said. “Like, yeah, I'm hot. We love hot. But it's like there's danger, there's love, there's fire, there's passion. And also just standing out to do something different that I haven't seen. It is so important to make an impression.”
Drew said the outfit provided another advantage.
“Wearing it brought out a more sultry, edgier side of me,” he said. “I found myself doing things on stage I wouldn’t normally feel comfortable with, but in that moment, it felt completely right. That, to me, is the power of fashion.”
Drew drew upon his circle to get just the right looks.
“Definitely through my friends,” he said. “I built a network of artists and stylists. But mainly there's one person really gets what I want to convey. I'll explain all this music mumbo jumbo, and they'll be like, okay, yeah, that's cool. But what do you like? What do you want them to feel? How do you want to be perceived? And they take that, and they make it happen. Of course, they give me a few options, but really it's through other people. That's how it comes about: collaboration.”
Drew was impacted by music from a very young age.
“Younger than I do remember,” he said. “I was like a baby. There was this one tape we used to have. I don't even know what song it was and that tape was the only thing that would get me to be quiet. So the tape, they played it so much, it ended up breaking. I don't know what it did for me, definitely helped me escape. But I would say probably Lady Gaga. I grew up religious, so I wasn't allowed to listen to non-Christian music. About 2009, that's when I heard Paparazzi, Bad Romance, Telephone and even Kesha is a big one for me, too.”
The Welsh singer-songwriter MARINA also made an impression on Drew as a teen.
“She just released an album, Princess of Power,” he said. “She has an album called Electra Heart and it's made some of the most impact in my life. It's a concept album of the five archetypes of women: homewrecker, idol, teen beauty queen, all of them. But for her to put an idea like that of a conversation about women into an album and have it flow and have it not be mechanical. Just being able to hear that made me realize what I could do with music. I knew music was an escape. Club music made me feel some certain way. But this could be a commentary. You could create a commentary on anything of ideas.”
Drew would take his music as far as he can take it.
“I think so and it's not just because I like attention,” he said. “I'm a Leo. It's true because I know the things I have to say are important and they're things that I would want me when I was growing up, I would want to hear. I didn't hear people speaking their emotions and it's same thing with my song Iced Coffee. My main thing is to not only tell stories — that's so much fun — but if I can plant an idea of hey, maybe the government's fucking you over and just even get people to think about it. That's my main goal, so number one hits, world tours. But my most important thing is to make an impact in the world.”
Drew doesn’t fret about his private appearance versus public.
“I don't have tattoos because I'm super indecisive,” he said. “There's other times I'm walking around my apartment going outside. I live near the Hollywood Boulevard area and I'm just like, you know what? I don't care. You need to be ready. If you meet somebody who likes your music, you want to make an impression. But then also, I'm human. There's times where I'm out in my sweats. Maybe I have a stain on my shirt, but you know what? I'm comfortable. So there's definitely that dichotomy of I care and I recognize it's important. But also, if I'm not completely happy with my outfit, it's gonna be okay.”
As with many aspects of Drew’s life, even his name is part of who he wanted to become.
“When I was 13, I realized I was gay,” he said. “And the first crush I had, his name was Drew. And then Turner, because Will Turner from Pirates of the Caribbean. I felt like I had been through a lot. I needed to make some sort of big life change at 13. I needed to almost kill the old me. I didn't like the way I was allowing people to treat me. Changing my name was not only promising to myself you will always pursue music. Not only a promise, but it gave me power. It felt like I was becoming a new person. It was symbolic for me.”
Drew explained how he was able to change his name as a juvenile.
“My mom has always been my number one fan,” he said. “She even helped me get equipment to record and took me to meet up with producers when I was in my early teens. My family still calls me Gabe, because that’s who they met me as, and I respect that. I see Drew Turner as a character I created to live out a life I couldn’t picture Gabriel living. I’m very in my head like that, and my family gets it. Drew Turner is the pop star singing about love, heartbreak and government corruption. Gabriel is the emotion-driven artist who loves cookie butter ice cream from Trader Joe’s, plays Animal Crossing every night and still needs to catch up on Love Island.”
Drew said clothing is another way for people to express themselves the way they want.
“It is important,” he said. “It's also important to recognize that some people aren't ready for that as well. Wearing what you want to wear, you're creating a space for people to feel comfortable and express themselves no matter how long that takes. I feel like everybody deep inside them, maybe they suppress it, but I feel like everybody wants to express themselves in some way: tattoos, clothes, makeup.”
Drew said it’s vital for young people to feel comfortable with who they are.
“We should allow an open dialogue,” he said. “I don't want to say to kids, hey, you could be gay. But more like kids should be able to watch a Disney movie and there's two guys, and it's normal to where they don't even have to have this thing of: oh my God, what do they think? It shouldn't matter. It's important when we feel comfortable in ourselves to help other people feel comfortable as well, help them along that journey. YouTubers like Connor Franta, Joey Graceffa. When Joey Graceffa came out and I was young, it was another validation to be like, okay, you're normal. It's okay. You're not gonna die.”
Drew stays motivated to make music.
“The motivation comes from wanting to do it all the time,” he said. “I have a normal job right now, but anytime I'm not pursuing music, I feel like I'm missing something. But the motivation to keep going is I want to keep moving forward in life. And music's one of the only things that I feel competent enough to where I can keep going. We need to work at our craft and find the reasons to keep going. I know I'm never gonna stop because it's literally the one thing that will change my mood right away. And just hearing what other artists put out, it inspires me to do more and push myself to be a better artist.”
Drew dispensed advice to aspiring musicians.
“You have everything you need already,” he said. “When I was younger, I would always be like, oh, I need to do this first. Oh, I have this, but it's not like this one. We compare ourselves to other people so often, especially people who are in our same age range growing up. It's detrimental because not every single person will have the same path. No one will. You're creating your own path, so you need to find what you have, use what you have. You always are going to have something. If you have a desktop and you're just recording beats with your computer microphone and you're creating a beatbox, go post it on SoundCloud because you never know who's gonna find that.”
Drew said artists shouldn’t limit themselves.
“Don't hold yourself back,” he said. “That's what the advice is. Allow yourself to let go of your art and not perfect it. I had someone at my job, she had a quote by someone and it really stuck with me. It was if you hold onto your art and keep trying to perfect it, keep trying to perfect it, it's going to turn into dust because it's never going to be perfect. So don't hold yourself back. Allow yourself to make mistakes. Allow your art not to be perfect.”
Drew squeezes in pastimes when he can.
“I really like video games,” he said. “I like my Nintendo Switch. I love Animal Crossing and like Mario Odyssey. I love spending time with my friends. That's a big thing. I wish I could do it more. We go to Disneyland. I'm a huge Disney person.”
“I love my dog,” he said about his French bulldog. “I have a 6-year-old school dog, Bella, also a Leo. We're usually chilling together at home.”
Drew summed up his advice for anyone.
“The most important part is not let anybody tell you who you are,” he said. “That's one of my main goals as well is that you're allowed to feel your emotions. You're allowed to be yourself. No one can tell you how to feel. You can pretend but you'll never be okay with it and your body will know.”
Drew’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamdrewturner/